BUENAVISTA, Bohol - Jhessa Balbastro, the elementary school pupil whose plight became a case study in the last presidential debate, has a message for President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

"Hinaot nga iya ko tabangan hangtod sa ako paghuman (I hope that he will help me until I finish [my studies])," she told ABS-CBN News.

Education was one of the topics posed during the last leg of the Pilipinas Debates 2016 where Jhesa Balbastro was a case study.

During the debate, Balbastro narrated how she once had to write her answers for a spelling test on a banana leaf because their family was too poor to buy paper.

"Pinagtawanan lang po ako nila," she recalled in an ABS-CBN News interview.

She also said that she often missed classes to look after her five younger siblings while their parents went to work. Despite this, Balbastro finished eighth in her fifth grade class.

'Dahon girl' of Bohol endures shame to beat poverty

On Monday, Balbastro was back in school for the first day of class in Bonotbonot Elementary School.

She is now in 6th Grade.

LOOK: 'Dahon girl' is back in school

She also received schools supplies, clothes and grocery items from Bantay Bata 163 Cebu and TV Patrol Central Visayas.